At the theater...do you even notice the clicking sound anymore?

Image by: CNBC

There’s something about that familiar, albeit annoying, clicking sound you hear from behind you at the movie theater. Maybe we are so used to it, that we don’t even hear it anymore.

Or, maybe we don’t hear it anymore, because it isn’t there.

The transition from analog to digital has been a long time coming in the movie biz. In the days of old, film canisters were shipped from production studio to theaters across the country. Today, they ship encrypted hard drives. This according to a post on BuzzFeed:

“Digital conversion and projection is already common in chain theaters across the country, with 27,000 screens in the U.S. (over two thirds) converted to digital. The switch started in earnest last year after major studios like 20th Century Fox privately notified theater owners in December 2011 of the coming new world order. And at CinemaCon this year, Fox’s master plan was announced: all digital, no film by 2013.”

The question being…do you care?

I rarely head to the theater anymore, and if I do, it’s most likely for my kids, or for a movie that has to be seen on a large scale…case in point the Avengers, Avatar, Titanic…any of the top 5 movies of all time in terms of ticket revenue. But, based on the post on Buzz Feed, many movie purists do care because going digital has implications…I’ll let you form your own opinion…check out the post – it’s a good read.

More often than not, digital is better, but many can make the argument for analog as well whether it’s record albums or 35mm film. I guess it comes down to what you’re most passionate about, and no amount of digitization is going to change that.

The clicking sound at the movie theater…it is going away whether we like it or not.

So do you care?

Be Kind and Rewind

Remembering Encyclopedia Britannica. “Stay out of the living room!”